FINES FOR aggressive begging will drop from a proposed maximum of €700 to €400 under the terms of a Bill due to be published on Friday by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
The Criminal Justice Public Order (Amendment) Bill will give gardaí new powers to direct beggars to move on from a 10-metre vicinity of a bank machine or private house.
When Mr Ahern announced the proposed legislation in November 2008, it was understood it would include a maximum penalty of a €700 fine or a month in prison, or both, for those convicted of “persistent” begging.
The Bill, due to be published on Friday, will make begging an offence when it is accompanied by threatening, violent or obstructive behaviour. The summary offence will now have a maximum penalty of a fine of €400 or one month’s imprisonment, or both.
Gardaí will get powers to direct beggars to move on from the entrance of a business premises, where the number or behaviour of people begging is deemed to be deterring members of the public from entering the building.
Gardaí will also be able to direct beggars to move on when their behaviour or presence is deemed to give rise to a reasonable apprehension for the safety of people or property. An example of this is understood to include begging from the occupants of vehicles.
Failure to comply with such directions from gardaí will be an offence with a maximum fine of €300 upon summary conviction.
Beggars who do not give their name and address to gardaí will be committing an offence with a maximum fine of €200.
Mr Ahern said the law on begging needed reform after section 3 of the 1847 Vagrancy Act was struck down as unconstitutional by the High Court in 2007.
Introduced at the height of the Famine, the Act made begging in a public place an offence and provided for a sentence of up to one month on conviction.
According to the Department of Justice, the State is without a law to “control” begging, apart from provisions contained in the Children Act 2001, directed at those who procure children to beg.
The Human Rights Commission published its critical observations on the general scheme of the Bill in December 2008.
